Stichting Taurus (Taurus Foundation) is a Dutch
foundation which uses large
herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...
s grazing under natural circumstances for nature
conservation. Robust
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
and
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
breeds are used for this purpose.
Background and practise
Large herbivore species like the
aurochs
The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...
,
wisent
The European bison (: bison) (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bi ...
,
elk, and
wild horse play an important role in the dynamics between fauna and flora and their grazing is recognized as essential for maintaining the
biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
in open, park-like areas. Therefore, their re-introduction into
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
's natural areas is deemed necessary, but some of these species are extinct in the wild. For these, their
domesticated descendants have to be used.
Stichting Taurus uses
Exmoor ponies and
Konik horses as large equine grazers. Robust cattle breeds like the Scottish
Highland cattle and
Galloway
Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...
s are used as well, in addition to aurochs-like primitive breeds like
Sayaguesa Cattle,
Pajuna Cattle,
Maremmana primitivo,
Tudanca cattle, and others. The robust grazers can survive without supplementary food during the winter and roam freely in the natural landscape of
Keent the whole year.
Further projects
In the early 2000s Stichting Taurus instigated the
Tauros Programme, which is a project attempting to breed a type of cattle which comes as close as possible to the extinct aurochs by crossbreeding and selecting the robust and aurochs-like cattle breeds. This aurochs-like cattle is planned to be released into European wild areas.
[Ben van Raaij: De Volkskrant: ''Oerrund blijkt superiour en wordt due teruggefokt''. 2010.] In 2010 it became a cooperative effort when the Dutch organisation
Ark Nature ( NL) joined the project, and in 2011 it became a European effort when
Rewilding Europe joined.
[The Tauros Programme]
“Tauros Organization.”
Project website, without date. Retrieved 29 October 2017.[The Tauros Programme]
“The Tauros Programme.”
Project website, without date. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
See also
Milovice Nature Reserve
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.stichtingtaurus.nl/
Ecological experiments